The Cold Smell Of Sacred Stone

to find yourself up to your ass in alligators, you make damn sure Garth Frederickson is in good shape when I pick him up in three days.'

And then I turned on my heel and stalked away. When I was certain I was out of sight, I ducked behind some bushes and threw up.

By the end of the day I had. filed official notice that I wanted my brother released from the clinic within seventy-two hours. I'd also made arrangements for a private ambulance to transport him, and booked a room in a private sanitarium in New York just in case Garth really was out of it when I got him back.

Then there was nothing more to do but wait-which I didn't like at all. I tried to call Lippitt, just to keep him informed, but he wasn't in his office. By using 'Valhalla' as a password, I could have been put in touch with him, no matter where he was, almost immediately, but I did not choose to use this emergency procedure. There wasn't an emergency-yet. I felt I owed him the courtesy of telling him I was removing Garth from the clinic, and why, but I wasn't yet ready to push any panic buttons. I left a message asking him to call me, at his convenience.

Everything that could be done had been done, I thought. And so I continued to wait.

I no longer had access to the secret clinic, but I still had my apartment on the grounds of the hospital complex, and that's where I waited after filing notice that I intended to take my brother home. Slycke called me early in the evening of the second day.

'Frederickson, this is Charles Slycke.' He sounded out of breath, as if he'd been running.

'I know who it is,' I replied curtly. 'Is my brother all right?'

'I must speak with you.'

'I asked you about my brother!'

'He's … all right,' Slycke said with what I considered rather ominous hesitation.

'He damn well better be.'

'I must speak to you, Frederickson. Alone.'

'Come on over. You know where I am.'

'No. I must meet you here. There's something I have to show you.'

'What?'

'Not over the phone.'

'I'm on the way.'

'No!' Slycke said quickly. There was a lengthy pause, during which I could hear the psychiatrist breathing heavily. Finally he continued, 'There are too many people around now. Tonight there won't be so many, and I can arrange to keep the night staff busy elsewhere. Will you come to my office at eleven?'

'You took my badge, remember? I've still got my keys, but I can't get in the building without the electromagnetic strip on that badge.'

'All right, I'll come down and let you in at eleven.'

'Why do we have to meet in your office at eleven? Why can't we meet someplace else right now? For that matter, why can't you tell me what's on your mind over the phone?'

'I just can't speak over the phone about this, and I can't remove what I want to show you from the building. You have to come here; eleven o'clock. We won't be disturbed at that time.'

'Put my brother on the phone.'

'I can't do that, Frederickson.' 'Why not?'

'It would look suspicious.'

'To whom?'

'Not over the phone, Frederickson.'

'But he is awake.'

'Yes. . he's awake.'

'All right, Slycke. I'll see you at eleven.'

'And you'll come alone?'

'I'll come alone.'

Slycke hung up. I pressed down the receiver bar, released it, and got a dial tone. I called Veil, grimaced with frustration when his telephone answering machine came on. I was starting to leave a message that I needed to speak to him as soon as possible when there was a click and he came on the line.

'Hi, Mongo. I was painting, and I didn't want to be bothered by some idiot trying to sell me something.'

'Sorry for the interruption, Veil.'

'You're never an interruption. What's up?'

'I could use some help tonight. Can I pick you up?'

'No. I can get hold of a car and save you the trip into the city. What's the problem?'

Quickly, I filled Veil in on what had been happening with Garth, my banning from the clinic, my filing of the seventy-two-hour notice, and Slycke's phone call.

Veil's laugh was sharp, without humor. 'He's got to be kidding. He really said that he wanted to meet you at eleven, and you should come alone?'

'Maybe he thinks I never go to the movies. But he could be on the level, and in any case it's an opportunity for me to try and see if Garth's all right. I have to go. I want you to ride shotgun.'

'You've got it. I'll be there in an hour or so.'

'We've got plenty of time, so you don't have to rush. Can you make a stop in an electronics store?'

'What do you need?'

'A miniature tape recorder, and a pair of paging beepers with matching frequencies and signal buttons.'

'I'm not sure I like the idea of using beepers,' Veil said as he sipped coffee at my small kitchen table and nodded at the two pocket-sized instruments in front of him. 'Why don't I just come up with you?'

'He's going to be meeting me downstairs.'

'You're going to have to find a way to leave the door wedged open, anyway. I'll follow the two of you up. He said he'd be keeping the staff busy elsewhere.'

'Yeah, but we don't know where 'elsewhere' is. There's too much open space up there, Veil, too many long corridors. It would be hard for even a ninja to keep visual track of me without risk of being spotted.'

'I can do it, Mongo,' Veil said evenly. 'Nobody will know I'm there.'

'Let's stick with the beepers. I'm pretty sure I can distract Slycke with a little sleight of hand, and I'll use a credit card to wedge the door open. If I do need you, then you can come running. Did you bring a gun?'

Veil patted his right ankle.

'Well, let's hope neither of us will be needing it,' I said, shoving my keys across the table to him. 'You take these. The little one will open and operate the elevator; the one with the M on it will open any other door in the clinic once you get up there. You've got the floor plan I drew for you, and I've put an X over Slycke's office-which is where I assume we'll be.'

'Are you taking your gun?'

I shook my head. 'In my situation, I don't think it's a good idea to take a gun into a mental ward. If something does happen to me, it's conceivable that a patient could get hold of it and start spraying bullets around for no reason at all. I don't want to be shot with my own gun, and I don't want to take any undue risk of innocent people getting hurt or killed. You'll be my gun-if I need you.'

Veil nodded, then slipped my keys into his pocket.

'I'll be at the entrance to Building 26 exactly at eleven,' I continued. 'Precisely ten minutes later you'll get a beep-if everything is okay. You'll be in your car out on the street. After that, if I'm in there for any length of time, I'll beep you once every half hour to signal that I'm all right.'

'Let's make it every fifteen minutes Mongo.'

'All right, twenty. After the first beep to signal I'm in no danger, twenty-minute intervals should be enough. If Slycke is dealing with me straight, and if I have to pay attention to something he's saying or showing me, I don't want to have to keep looking at my watch. One beep means that Slycke and I are having tea and crumpets and don't wish to be disturbed. Two slow beeps means I don't like something I'm seeing, but that there's time to involve RPC Security and bring some cops up with you; those keys you're carrying should get their respectful attention. Three quick beeps-or no beep at the proper interval-means that the bad guys are tying me across the railroad tracks, and the train's coming around the bend; I'll need you in a big hurry.'